[open access] Editorial: Energy Justice in the Era of Green Transitions (original) (raw)

The need to rapidly decarbonize our energy systems to address the challenge of climate breakdown is now widely accepted. It is also increasingly recognized that processes of decarbonization ought to be undertaken in a manner that considers issues of justice and equity (Martiskainen et al., 2020; Calver et al., 2022; Knox et al., 2022). Over the past decade, the concept of “energy justice” has highlighted the multitude of ways that the operation of energy systems—and the ways that they change and evolve—can impact different places and sections of society in decidedly unequal and potentially unjust ways, but that there are also opportunities for energy systems to evolve to be more just and inclusive (McCauley et al., 2013; Sovacool et al., 2014; Sovacool and Dworkin, 2015; Jenkins et al., 2016; Bouzarovski et al., 2017). This type of Research Topic is perhaps more pertinent than ever. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted, and arguably intensified, the centrality of energy services to our everyday lives and the functioning of societies (e.g., Carvalho et al., 2021; García et al., 2021; Rouleau and Gosselin, 2021). This Research Topic—Energy Justice in the Era of Green Transitions—seeks to contribute to ongoing research and debates regarding how current “green,” or “climate neutral,” energy transitions and policies might be causing, or avoiding, injustices, and the potential role such transitions might play in creating a more just society in the future.